The Relationship between Aspects of Reading Motivation and Learners’ EFL Reading Comprehension Ability: The Case of Second-Year EFL Students at Gambella University, Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between aspects of reading motivation and reading comprehension ability of second-year EFL students at Gambella University, Ethiopia. The study was conducted in a sample of 40 EFL students selected through comprehensive sampling technique. To collect the required data for the study, questionnaire and reading comprehension test were used. The study was a quantitative cross-sectional research in its type, and it employed a correlation and multiple regression statistical procedures to analyze data. Pearson product moment correlation and multiple linear regression statistical procedure were followed. The statistical significance was tested at P= 0.5 level of significance. Accordingly, the value of the Adjusted R-square (R=.775) indicated strong fit. This implies that, among the eight aspects of reading motivation, six predictors computed in the model strongly predict EFL students reading comprehension ability.  Specifically, the aspects of reading motivation (grade, curiosity, involvement, work avoidance, self-efficacy and   importance) had strongly predicted learners reading comprehension ability. Thus, it was recommended that teachers should keep on motivating students and engage them on meaningful reading activities. Students have to realize the importance of aspects of reading motivation since they have significant relationship and strongly predict their EFL reading comprehension ability. Furthermore, further studies are crucial to address nonlinguistic constructs related with EFL learners reading comprehension ability since it was found that aspects of reading motivation predict 77.5% of EFL students reading comprehension ability in the present study. Keywords: reading , motivation,  comprehension, EFL students,ability DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/72-04 Publication date: January 31st 2024